Gareth Bale’s recent form in the Premiership has left the Welsh national manager Chris Coleman with an interesting dilemma this week. Wales play Austria in an international friendly on Wednesday night and although Coleman is unlikely to make a positional change for this match, the former Fulham boss is considering playing Bale as an out and out striker in the future.
“Gareth will not start up front against Austria, but it is something I’m actively considering for the future,” Coleman said.
“You have to score goals to win matches and it’s a role he could perform, without any shadow of a doubt.”
Coleman also felt that Gareth could easily feature if Wales were to consider the false nine formation used by Spain at Euro 2012.
“He could even perform the role of a false nine, so to speak, the system Spain have used, and Barcelona also play that way from time to time with Lionel Messi,” he added.
“Could I see Gareth doing that for us, too? Yes I could.”
With reports coming through that Jermain Defoe will be out for up to three weeks and no guarantee that Emmanuel Adebayor is ready to walk back into the side, is this a move that Andre Villas-Boas should consider ahead of the Newcastle clash this Saturday?
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Hmm, I thought the Welsh were following AVB’s lead.
ur right
Not unless absolutely necessary, ie if adebayor gets stranded in S. Africa which apparently he is after volunteering a private jet (hopefully NOT paid for by levy) for his team-mates – the jet never arrived!
Seem to remember Bale upfront in pre-season due to the usual (yawn) striker shortage, and don’t remember anything particularly striking about it (sorry about the pun).